We mourn the loss of the compact pickup truck. One by one, the trucks like the Ford Ranger, Mazda B-Series, Chevy S-10 and others have all gone out of production or been replaced by larger models. Whatever happened to the tough, affordable, small truck?

We think the dog in this 1998 commercial for the Nissan Frontier would say this situation is a real shame. He was enough of a fan of the small truck that he pushed his sleeping owner out of his house, down the street, into heavy traffic and to his Nissan showroom in order to inspire the hapless man to buy the then-new Frontier truck. That's a pretty awesome dog, even if he's a bit of a manipulator.

It's a fun and quirky ad, and the Peanuts music adds a lot to it. Also, we get to see the actor who plays famed Nissan exec and "Father of the Z" Yutaka Katayama pop out of a manhole and inform us that "Dogs love trucks!" And who are we to argue with Mr. K?

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The current Nissan Frontier is no longer really a compact, but a mid-size. We'd love to see a few car companies return to small-truck form at some point.